fort monroe

Environmental Litigation

Update

LTC Charles L. Green

Chief, Litigation Branch

Environmental Law
Division

Challenges to Army
Ranges/Army Operations

• Alaska Community Action on Toxics v. Deo't of the

• Delta lunction v. Dep't of the Army. (D. Alaska

Alaska Community Action on Toxics v.
Dep't of the Army. (D. Alaska)

Citizen suit alleges that Army's use of the

Eagle River Flats firing range at Fort

Richardson, Alaska:

- constitutes the discharge of pollutants into the
waters of the United States, for which a Clean
Water Act permit is required, and

- that CERCLA requires the Army to do a
Remedial Investiqation/Feasibility Study to
address unexploded ordnance throughout Fort
Richardson

Plaintiffs seeking summary judgment on

CWA and CERCLA counts

Litigation has been closely linked to RRPI

Delta lunction v. Dep't of the Arm

Alaska)

• Suit filed in July 2003 by the City of Delta
Junction, Alaska, alleges that the Army's
proposed expansion of the Donnolly
Training Area near Fort Greely violates
NEPA

- Alleges that the Army's EA is insufficient
because the proposed federal action will result
in unmitigated significant impacts to the
environment

- Seeks to permanently enjoin the range
expansion until preparation of a full EIS

Chemical Weapons
Demilitarization Litigation

Citizens for the Responsible Destruction of Chemical
Weapons v. Dep't of the Army (S.D. Ohio)

Chemical Weapons Working Group, et al.. v. POD, et al.
(D.D.C.)

GASP v. Environmental Quality Commission of the State
of Oregon . (Oregon Circuit Court, Multnomah County)

Akers et. al. v. United States . (D. Or.)

Families Concerned about Nerve Gas Incineration, et
al.. v. Department of the Army, et al. (N.D. Ala.)

Chemical Weapons Working Group v. Arkansas
Department of Environmental Quality . (Arkarlsas
Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, on appeal to
Arkansas Circuit Court)

Citizens for the Responsible
Destruction of Chemical Weapons v.

Dep't of the Army (S.D. Ohio)

Citizen suit filed in July 2003 alleging that
decision to ship hydrolysate from Newport
Chemical Demilitarization Facility to a
commercial facility in Ohio for final treatment
and disposal violates NEPA because it was
made without an adequate environmental
impact statement.

- Hydrolysate is a by-product of the destruction of VX
nerve agent by means of chemical neutralization.

- Construction at NECDF is nearly complete and
demilitarization operations are scheduled to begin
in Jan 2004.

Chemical Weapons Working Group v.

POD (D.D.C.)

Citizen suit filed in Mar 2003 seeking to enjoin the
Army's chemical weapons incineration programs
in Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon, and Utah.

Suit alleges the Army's failure to prepare a
Supplemental Programmatic Environmental
Impact Statement for the chem demil program
violates NEPA.

CWWG alleges that an SPEIS is required because
of significant new information since the
programmatic decision was made in 1988 to use
incineration.

Families Concerned about Nerve Gas
Incineration v. Dep't of the Army (N.D.

Ala.)

• November 2002, plaintiffs sued to permanently
enjoin incineration operations at Anniston
Chemical Agent Disposal Facility.

• Plaintiffs allege that the agent operations at
facility will pose an imminent and substantial
endangerment under RCRA

GASP v. Environmental Quality
Commission of the State of Oregon .
(Oregon Circuit Court, Multnomah

County)

GASP sued the Oregon Environmental Quality
Commission (EQC) based on the EQC's refusal of
GASP's petition to revoke the state permits issued
to the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility.

The permittees (Army and Washington
Demilitarization Group) intervened.

Trial, held during 2002-03, is nearly complete

Akers et. al. v. United States . (D. Or.)

Plaintiffs (49 construction workers) allege that they
were negligently exposed to chemical warfare agent
at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility
(UMCDF).

Investigations by the Army, the construction
contractor (Raytheon), and the State of Oregon ruled
out chemical warfare agent, but could not pinpoint the
source of the illnesses reported by the workers.

The court recently narrowed the issues for trial to
plaintiffs' allegations of negligent storage of chemical
agent weapons, negligent medical response to an
industrial accident and negligent investigation.

Trial is scheduled to begin in October 2003.

CWWG v. Arkansas Department of
Environmental Quality . (Ark. Cir.

Court).

Citizen suit challenge to the Pine Bluff Chemical
Demilitarization Facility

Suit seeks to revoke the state-issued CAA and
RCRA permits for the Pine Bluff incineration
facility

Perchlorate Contamination

Atlantic Research Corporation v. Dep't of

the Army (W.D. Ark.)_

- In Dec 2002, Atlantic Research Corp. sued the
Army under CERCLA for perchlorate
contamination of soil and groundwater at a
formerly used defense site in Camden, Arkansas.

- ARC seeks contribution for cleanup costs for
contamination that resulted from work it
performed on Chaparral rockets.

- Castaic Lake v. Whitaker, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
11991